What I Learned In An Italian Kitchen

My one goal on my recent trip to Italy was to eat and drink as much as I could.  I had been thinking about this trip for almost 2 years and the food did not disappoint.  Even the most touristy and pedestrian of restaurants seemed to serve better food than almost any I’ve had in the US.  Pasta, gelato, olive oil and wine... I couldn’t get enough.

True Italian food is not the heavy, garlic laden versions we love in America (sorry to break it to some of you but Al Fredo sauce didn’t originate in Italy).  Italian cooking is light and fresh.  While in Tuscany, we took a cooking class in an Italian home hosted by Alessandra Federici.  Alessandra isn’t a chef or a gourmand, she’s just your average Italian businesswoman who got in on the agritourism trend early and started a cooking class called Alessandra’s Real Italian Kitchen in her quaint Tuscan home.  Our day was filled with shopping, cooking, eating and conversing.  And it changed the way I view Italian food.  Here’s what I learned:

1. Make do with what you have

It’s an approach to cooking that would make MacGyver proud.  Take a few simple, seasonal ingredients and combine them to make something wonderful.  I got the feeling that most Italian homes aren’t stocked with cookbooks filled with step by step directions on how to make the perfect ragu or risotto.  Instead they take a few basic techniques and add in ingredients that they have at their fingertips.  This is why the regional cuisines of Italy vary so greatly.  Alessandra explained that much of our Italian American food evolved out of that same process.  When Italian immigrants arrived in the US they no longer had the same fruits, vegetables and meats they were accustomed to using in Italy.  So they made do.  That’s why you won’t see an Italian serving toasted ravioli or Caesar salad in her home (but maybe you will in the restaurants that cater to tourists).

2. Cook slowly.  Eat slowly.

This is one of Alessandra’s basic rules to the Italian kitchen - patience.  She told us the key to Italian cooking is to cook slowly on a low heat.  Cooking slowly on a low flame allows the flavors of the dishes to develop and meld together.  Don’t worry, you won’t over cook.  And then when it comes to eating a meal, Italians take that slowly too.  Food is at the center of Italian social life.  There is no rushing.  And they share it with pleasure with friends.  Antipasti, primi and secondi are all cooked and enjoyed at a pace that allows you to appreciate the process and enjoy the wonderful flavors (and the company). 

3. Choose fresh, seasonal and local

Whenever I travel to Europe I’m always amazed how the same simple things I eat in Ohio seem to taste so different across the pond.  A tomato from the local grocery in Italy tastes like a Tomato, while the same variety from my Kroger is tasteless mush.  Given my line of work I know that this isn’t a difference between organic or not.  I believe it’s a difference between fresh or not.  The vegetables we used in our meal in Tuscany came from a very small produce shop where the selection was fresh and ripe.  The aspargine we cooked was picked the day before. The prosciutto was cured in the back of the butcher shop.  In the US, the produce in our grocery stores is usually picked before it’s ripe and spends weeks in transport before it even gets to the shelf.   Eat fresh and local is a way of life for Italians, not a recent trend, and you can tell the difference.

Italian cuisine is the master of the art of simplicity.  Maybe this is why I love it so much.  You don’t need a pantry of imported ingredients to make a superb meal.  You don’t need fancy techniques.  You just need a few simple ingredients, slowly cooked and enjoyed with friends and family.